Zoho launches BackToWork

Zoho Corporation, a global technology company offering an extensive suite of business software applications, today announced BackToWork, a fully comprehensive modular solution enabling businesses and organisations to safely transition back into the workplace.

Free for the remainder of 2020, BackToWork, powered by Zoho Creator, is the latest programme to be introduced as part of the company’s ongoing relief efforts, which support businesses impacted by the Covid-19 crisis.

“We’ve seen tremendous successes in our existing initiatives aimed at helping organisations through Covid-19 and its associated lockdowns,” said Andrew Bourne, Regional Manager, Africa, Zoho Corp. “Now that businesses are re-opening, we want to help them, this time through BackToWork, an application enabling companies to maintain end-to-end workplace safety.”

Scalable to companies and organisations of all sizes, BackToWork supports Chief Operations Officers, Chief Human Resources Officers, Facility Heads and their teams in making critical decisions around returning to the workplace without compromising on the safety and compliance aspects.

The robust application consists of six modules designed to address every concern involved in the process of re-entering the workplace, all within one secure, easy-to-navigate solution:

• Safe Entry: Businesses can define multiple buildings and locations in the app, and control access based on an employee’s wellness and travel history. This is achieved via a contactless end-to-end check-in system using QR codes.
• Employee Wellness Assessment: Workplace wellness can be tracked by defining self-assessment, safe entry, and travel policies. Employees can securely and privately submit a wellness questionnaire reporting travel history, recent medical history, and other pertinent possible exposure history.
• Maintenance and Assets: Businesses can define and manage assets and building maintenance requests for employees. Repair/replacement requests can be handled in the app.
• Admin Control Panel: BackToWork gives a 360-degree view of workplace data in pre-configured dashboards. Businesses can add and manage employees, and configure roles for tasks such as approvals, emergency contacts, etc.
• Volunteer: Volunteer programmes can be added and managed.
• Communication: Announcements, FAQs, best practices, policies, safety documents etc. can be shared with employees and managed in the Communication module.

BackToWork is a user-friendly application that also allows for advanced customization for companies that have specific requirements. The application can be easily integrated with top HR platforms like Zoho People and BambooHR, and also with Active Directory and Zoho Directory. It is currently available in English, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic and will soon be available in Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Zoho has several enhancements in the pipeline including a Travel Management module and integrations with popular video conferencing platforms.

BackToWork also ensures a level of confidentiality that no other vendors in this space can guarantee. Zoho does not allow any third-party trackers to monitor usage behaviour and never sells any data. Because Zoho has built its entire technology stack, the company is able to offer the most secure experience to its users without compromising on data privacy. Zoho BackToWork users have the assurance that their data is confidential and protected, and only users themselves maintain ownership of that data.

BackToWork is the latest in Zoho’s efforts to support businesses through the Covid-19 crisis. In March, Zoho introduced Remotely, a free suite of 11 business applications designed to help companies of all sizes transition to remote work. Since its release, more than 25,000 organizations are using Remotely, which will remain free till September 1. Zoho then unveiled its Small Business Emergency Subscription Assistance Program (ESAP), which waived off subscription fees for the affected small business customers. Nearly 20,000 organizations have taken advantage of ESAP. In April, Zoho’s Vertical Relief Plan was rolled out, offering businesses in three hard-hit industries — Retail, Government & Non-Profit, and Education — custom-built tools and assistance programs to navigate pandemic-related issues.

Pricing and Availability

As part of Zoho’s ongoing effort to support businesses during these uncertain times, BackToWork will be offered free of charge until the end of 2020. After that period, it will cost NGN780/user/month.